October Fun

I love October!  Even though we really don't have a "real" fall here in southeast Texas, I still get excited when the calendar turns to October.  I grew up in Pennsylvania so at least I have my memories of autumn leaves and crisp, cool days and nights!  But Halloween is still Halloween, and it is one of my favorite times of year!  For the next few weeks we'll use pumpkins, bats, spiders and all kinds of spooky things to help motivate our little ones to learn and have fun at the same time.
Last year I made these math games to add to my stations.

Click here to download the games.

My class last year loved learning about bats. Cara Carroll at The First Grade Parade has some of the best bat ideas.  I can't wait to do this Venn Diagram and bat fact activity.


Gail Gibbons has some great non-fiction books for this time of year.



Happy fall, y'all!  There's a bag of candy corn around here with my name on it so I am off to indulge!
Carol

Obsessed!

I think I have become obsessed with problem solving!  My class this year seems to really enjoy being challenged, and they do a fantastic job so it just makes it fun to teach!
I was searching for some strategy charts to display, and although I found some great ones, nothing seemed just right.  So I created some!  I chose the strategies that our curriculum teaches to start with, but I may add others later.
Here they are if you would like to use them.  I made 2 versions because I am very indecisive this morning!

Download here.  Note:  Google docs does not show the chevron background but it's there when printed.

Download here.

Clip art is mostly from Scrappin Doodles and Thistle Girl Designs.

Hope you can use these!

Carol

Problem Solving

My district provides Exemplars for math problem solving, and my school has made using them a priority this year. I am the first grade representative on our campus math committee, so I will be partially responsible for guiding my team through the implementation of Exemplars.  Fortunately, I was already familiar with the program from my time in another district, but I have never used them with a whole class before.  So I decided this week to try out some Exemplar-type work with my class so I could share with my team before we actually do our first real Exemplar problem for our portfolios.

On Wednesday, our daily journal prompt was:
I have 8 apples.  Some are green and some are red.  How many of each can I have?

Many children just wrote the equation 4+4=8 and then drew a picture.  There wasn't a lot of evidence of their thinking although I was pleased that several of the students were able to verbalize that since 8 was an even number they knew they could make 2 equal groups!  So on Thursday I decided to change things up just a little and incorporate some of the routines that our math committee has established for Exemplars.  I wanted to emphasize that:
1.  Mathematicians show their work in different ways.
2.  You need to circle your answer.
3.  Use math vocabulary to explain your thinking and then highlight those words (an Exemplar strategy).

We started by discussing Wednesday's problem, and then I started a chart of ways mathematicians show their work.  I saw a similar chart on Donna's blog, The Math Coach's Corner.  (I learn so much every time I visit her blog!) Here is the chart we created- minus "table" as we added it later.

Then I posed this problem:

After we read the problem together,  I had the students tell me what they were trying to find.  I made sure that the word combinations was mentioned.  We discussed possible strategies, and then I let them go to work, reminding them to circle their answer and tell how they found the answer.  I gave each student a sheet of manila paper to work on.  Some students immediately started to write equations.  Others started to draw baskets.  Interestingly, a couple of students started to draw 8 boxes on their paper.  When I asked why, they weren't sure.  I think it is because we use this paper often for what I call 8-square activities; for example, I will write 8 short a words and the students will copy one in each box and draw a picture.  I noticed also that some students were spending most of their time drawing and coloring baskets so I stopped the class and did a quick reteach on math drawings and reminded them that these were quick sketches, not art class drawings!

When I noticed that most students seemed to finished or close to finishing we stopped and discussed some of the strategies they used and shared how many combinations they found.  About half the class found that there were 6 combinations.  We then used our highlighters to show any math words we used in our explanations.  Most students had one math word such as "I wrote number sentences" or "I used counters."  I then explained that mathematicians like to make sure of their answers by showing their work in a different ways and use more math language to explain what they have done.

The next day I used this same problem to introduce a new way to show work.  I used one student's work to show how she had the same combination twice, and I talked about how many students kept asking me if they were finished because they didn't know if they had found all of the ways.  I told them that sometimes we need a way to organize our data.  Using seven 2 color counters, I showed them how I would start with one red and then count how many were yellow.  I wrote this information on the Smart board in table form.  Then we made 2 red, counted the yellow and wrote it on the table.  Then I just wrote a 3 in the red column and asked  "How many yellow?"  We completed the table together, checking with our counters, and I explained that a table was one way to organize your thinking when working with combinations.  Then we added it to our chart.

This week we will do a similar problem: "There are 8 animals in the barn.  Some are cows and some are horses.  How many different combinations of animals could be in the barn."  I can't wait to see how they approach the problem now!

Reflections on Resolutions

In July I linked up with Amanda at Teaching Maddeness to share my new school year resolutions.  To help keep me on track, I'm going to share my progress each month.

Goal 1: Organization
I'm proud to say that my teaching table is usable most of the time!  I bought some storage carts and put a shelf behind it to hold all my small group supplies.  On Friday, I was actually able to pull a spur-of-the-moment math group and have all the supplies I needed right there!
However, now my desk has become my "hot spot."  I have the organizational tools I need- file pocket chart, supply organizer, paper organizer, etc. but I just haven't gotten into the habit of using them!  Instead, everything ends up piled on top of the desk.  I spent 30 minutes on Friday looking for a  form that needed to be turned in. :(
Filing is still a problem area, too!  I did set up storage carts for monthly activities so my teaching stuff is better organized, but I still have piles of student work and forms to file.  I need to get that straightened out this week before conferences start.

Goal 2:  Guided Math
Math stations are up and running and I have been able to pull a few groups.  I still need to establish a regular schedule for groups, but I feel good about what we are doing in math so far.

Goal 3:  Guided Reading
I've really only been pulling groups for about a week.  I needed to get at least some of the Daily 5 activities introduced and complete a benchmark assessment on each student.  Most of my reading manipulatives and games are now stored behind my teaching table for easy access during groups.  I use a binder to store lesson plans, anecdotal records and running records for my groups.  The binder also includes information that might be helpful during groups such as questioning guides, strategy charts, book level expectations, etc.  I made "thinking clouds" to help me remember to ask higher level questions.  We can pull a cloud and discuss the story using the prompt.

Goal 4: Technology
I do my calendar on my Smart Board.  The activities are very interactive, and I have included lots of songs which the kids love.  A lot of the songs I use are from Jack Hartmann's Math in Motion CD.  I love how many math skills we can practice during this time!
The kids have started to use Kid Pix to write and illustrate sentences.

We still need to learn how to login using their personal logins/passwords.  Right now we are using a generic student login which makes saving work more complicated.  My goal is to have them start using their own logins this week so they can save directly to a folder on the shared drive.  I have created a class blog on Kidblogs for the class to share their work.  All that is left is to get a few more students' work uploaded and then send the link to the parents.  I am very excited about using the blog as a digital portfolio of our work this year!  I have found Kathy Cassidy's website very helpful for blogging inspiration and tools.

Overall, I feel pretty good about my progress toward my goals.  If I could just get the organization thing down...a few more hours in a day would be helpful!

Apples, Addition, and Connections

This week we celebrated Johnny Appleseed Day, learned more about addition and used our schema to make connections in reading.

Addition:  One of the activities we did was from Oceans of First Grade Fun- Corn and Tomato Soup.  I saw this last year on Yolanda's blog and had to try it!  The kids really had fun making their "soup."  I created a little Smartboard activity to demonstrate making the soup.

Click here for the notebook file for the Smartboard.

In reading this week we did Tanny McGregor's reading salad lesson and made this anchor chart.  I hesitate to post any of my anchor charts after some of the fabulous ones I have seen on other blogs!  But I am NOT and artist, and usually just do the chart with the kids, so this is what I get!  Even the kids laughed at my head this time!

I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of our apple graph.  First we made a real graph using our apples and sorting by color.  Then we collected the data using tally marks and then they colored their graphs and answered some questions about the data.  I have a couple more apple activities planned so I will try to get some pictures!

Unrelated note:  I just recently got my first smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S3) and I don't know how I lived without it!  It makes adding pictures to my blog so much easier, I can send texts by talking, and I just discovered yesterday I can scan documents with it and send them to myself or others.  All this and Angry Birds, too!

Math Journals

(Edited on October 21.  Added link for journal label)

Labels

I am just loving math journals this year!  About 3 times a week I give the students a prompt to glue in their journal.  We discuss it and then the children respond to the prompt or solve the problem in their journals using words and pictures.  My favorite prompts are from  Anna Brantley's (Crazy for First Grade) TPT shop.

Here are some examples from my class this year:

Each week I cut the journal strips that we are going to use and store them in this coupon/bill organizer one of my wonderful teammates discovered in the Dollar Spot at Target!  (We also picked up the smaller size that  is perfect for word cards.)

When our guided math groups really get going, I'm going to have the kids bring their journals with them to group so they can add vocabulary or illustrate concepts we've discussed, as well as solve problems during our group time.
The kids love journals; they actually cheered yesterday when I said take out your math journals!
Do you use math journals? How do they work in your class?

Bad Blogger Award

I have given myself a blog recognition- The Bad Blogger Award!  Blogging was so fun and easy this summer while I was preparing to go back to school.  Now that school has actually started, I am so tired I can hardly put 2 coherent sentences together.
But now that the initial back to school craziness is over- we had our Parent Curriculum Night this week and have been in school 3 weeks now- I think I'm ready to get back to blogging about all the things we have been doing.

                                            
 I have a very sweet class this year. A little too chatty sometimes, but lots of fun!  I introduced them to Pete the Cat this week, and I wish I could show you pictures of them rocking out to the songs!  We didn't get to many activities based on Pete except some journal writing.  I see pictures of all the cute "craftivities" some bloggers complete with their students each week and I just don't know how they find the time.  Our days are so full!  Here's a rundown of a typical day:

(All times are approximate; we're never completely on schedule!)
8:10-8:30  Students arrive, unpack, write homework in planner, complete morning work.  Announcements are at 8:20.
8:30-8:45  Calendar.  I do mine on the Smartboard and I've added a lot of number talk)
8:45-9:00  Morning Message, shared reading or read aloud
9:00-9:30  Word Study- Our district created a new word study plan this year utilizing a lot of Pat Cunningham's ideas.  We use Making Words and other activities from her book Phonics They Use to study different word families each week.  Right now we are doing short a families.  We try to teach handwriting during this time as well.
9:30-10:30  Daily Five- We are still introducing the components.  So far we have done Read to Self and Work on Writing.  (In my class, Work on Writing is actually Write About Reading.)  Our mini lessons have been on topics such as how to choose a just-right book,  the five W's of reading, 3 ways to read a book, making connections and lots of procedural lessons.  The first 2 weeks of school we did do several "craftivities" based on books and several name activities.  I have to confess we have also done some cut and paste type worksheets for the sole purpose of giving me time to assess reading levels using the Fountas and Pinnell leveling kit.  This is new for us this year; we have used Rigby in the past.  I like F&P so much better, but I think it takes a little longer. We are supposed to be ready for guided reading in another week.
10:30-11:15  Writer's Workshop- We use Lucy Calkins Units of Study so we have been been completing the launching lessons.  I have some incredible writers this year!
11:15  Lunchtime!
Whew, this post is way too long and I'm only up to lunch.  I'd love to see other first grade schedules.  How do you find time for everything?